Companionship
by webbswoman
Summary: When Jesse Travis came to LA to become a doctor, he had no idea of what was in store for him. This is the SLASH version of my other story 'THE ART OF FRIENDSHIP' Hope that you enjoy it! COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**This is the first chapter of SLASH story 'Companionship' there is a gen version of it called 'The Art of Friendship' so if Slash isn't your thing then you can read that! This is my first Steve/Jesse slash story so any reviews will be greatly appreciated as I would like to know what I am doing right/wrong! Hope you enjoy it!**

Jesse Travis looked around him at his empty apartment, there were boxes everywhere, full of all the things he had accumulated over the years, he went to the first box and opened it. It was packed full of books, all of the books had one thing in common, they were all to do with medicine. Apart from that they were all very different, and the titles ranged from 'Modern Day Medicine' to 'The Common Cold:The Truth' to 'The Doctors Guide to Everything and Anything.' Jesse had read each of the books at least twice and felt that he was now ready to put the theory into practice. It was time for him to follow his dreams.

Taking all of the books out of the box he placed them onto the coffee table next to the sofa, he had a feeling that over the next few weeks he would be looking to them more than once for help. He thought about how hard he had been studying over the past few years at Med School and smiled with satisfaction at the realisation that it was already beginning to pay off. He glanced at his watch, he still had about three hours before he was due at Community General Hospital, just long enough to go and explore LA for a little bit. He had arrived in the city the previous night after a long drive form Chicago, and after getting the keys to his apartment and paying the rent deposit he had eaten and then gone straight to sleep, so he had not had a chance to look around and get his bearings. He had also promised to drop in on his best friend Rick as soon as possible, so he would have to find his way there. Jesse decided to walk, at least then if he got lost he could jump in a taxi.

He grabbed his jacket, keys and wallet then left the house, pulling the door tight shut behind him. About half way down the street he noticed a phone box, the phone in his apartment hadn't been hooked up yet so he went into the box and dialed a familiar number.

"Hello, Hillview Hospital, how may I help?" a womans voice came over the phone.

"Hi, this is Jesse Travis, Dr. Travis' son, is she free?"

"Just one moment, I'll find out." Jesse tried to think whether his Mum had mentioned any meetings before he had left for LA, but nothing came to mind.

"Hello, Jesse?"

"Hey Mom, I'm just ringing to let you know that I'm in LA safely"

"Right darling, I'd love to talk but running my own hospital does mean that I don't have time for idle chit chat."

"Oh, right, well its just that I'm heading to the hospital soon and I..."

"Speak soon Jesse, bye." He heard the dial tone and slammed the phone back onto the hook. Why did work always have to come first for his mum? Jesse left the phone box and kept walking, he wasn't going to let it spoil his day, after all it was his first day as a trainee doctor at Community General, pretty soon his mum would be so proud of him, then maybe she would spare him a few minutes to talk. With that thought in mind he turned the corner and took out the directions to Rick's house, now there was someone who would be glad to see him.

Rick had moved to LA roughly six months ago, mainly to get away from the small town where the boys had grown up, Jesse hadn't seen him for about four months and although they had emailed he couldn't wait to be reunited with his best friend.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here is the second chapter, thanks for the reviews for chapter one! Enjoy!**

Jesse walked through the automatic doors and into the hospital, he looked around at the place where his whole career was going to begin, a small smile was playing on his lips, he walked over to the desk and flashed a grin at the receptionist.

"Hi, I wonder if you can help me erm," Jesse looked at the name badge on the attractive blonde behind the desk, "Julie, I'm looking for Dr. Sloan, he's expecting me, my name's Jesse Travis." The woman looked Jesse up and down then smiled, like a predator that had just spotted its prey.

"Well, Jesse, he's due any moment, if you'd just like to wait here, he should arrive shortly." She flicked her hair and then gave the phone an annoyed look as it began to ring, Jesse nodded at her before turning around to find a seat. He didn't get very far before he heard a shout, he turned to see a man coming towards him on a pair of roller skates, the man seemed to be having difficulty stopping so Jesse reached out and grabbed a hold of his arm. After taking a few moments to catch his breath the man turned to Jesse smiling from ear to ear.

"Thank you so much for that, I'm afraid my skating skills are a bit out of practice." Jesse surveyed the man.

"You erm, like to travel on skates then?" The man laughed.

"No, but my car likes to break down, Mark Sloan, nice to meet you." The man held out his hand and Jesse took it to shake.

"Mark Sloan as in Doctor Sloan, Chief of Internal Medicine?"

"Yes, that's me, you are?"

"Jesse Travis, I..."

"You're one of the new interns! I've heard very good things about you Jesse!"

"Well, I hope I can live up to them," Jesse grinned.

"I'm sure you will, come on then, let me show you around." The man started to skate off and Jesse hastened to follow, shaking his head in bemusement at the man who his mother had told him to 'act normal' in front of.

"So that's basically Community General Hospital," Mark smiled at Jesse, "Apart from the most important room, the break room, working long shifts can be very tiring so whenever you need a rest this is where you come, watch TV, have some coffee, catch up on some sleep," Mark pushed the door to the break room open. Jesse saw that there were two people inside; he followed Mark into the room. A woman stood up.

"Oh, hi Mark, I'm sorry to be so rude, but I've just had a call, got to go look at a body. I'll speak to you later alright." The woman smiled warmly at Mark.

"Okay, Amanda, hey come around to the beach house tonight, I'll cook something up for you and Steve." Amanda nodded, glanced briefly at Jesse and left the room. Mark gestured for Jesse to sit down and he obliged, glancing nervously at the man on the opposite chair. Mark sat down beside Jesse and smile at him.

"Jesse, this is my son, Steve, he's a detective with the LAPD, Steve this is Jesse Travis, he's one of my new interns." Jesse looked at the man and had to stop himself from gasping, the man looking back at him was gorgeous, he was also speaking, Jesse blinked and tries to take in what he was saying.

"Hi Jesse, it's nice to meet you, welcome to Community General, where are you from originally?" The man looked at Jesse expectantly and he realised that at this point he was meant to speak.

"Thanks, its nice to meet you too Steve, I just moved here from Chicago." Jesse gave Steve a toothy grin.

"I bet your finding the weather really hot here then eh," Steve smiled back at Jesse.

"What, oh right, well I literally just arrived last night so I don't really know, besides hot LA is better that cold Chicago!" The older man nodded, then stood and went over to the coffee machine.

"So, Jesse, what are you into?" Jesse thought about his answer carefully, he didn't want to make himself sound young and goofy in front of Steve and his new teacher/boss.

"Well, I err I like surfing, country music and barbeque food, well any food really." The older man looked over in interest.

"Well, we live on a beach and there's some great surfing, you'll have to come over some time, and as for the barbeque, I know a great little place, I'll have to take you there some time." Jesse nodded eagerly, and then looked down in mild embarrassment. Then his cell began to ring, he cursed himself for picking such an embarrassing ring tone then hastened to answer it.

"Yeah, this is Jesse."

"Jess, its Chris, just ringing to see how you're doing." Jesse smiled at his brother's voice.

"Oh, hey Chris, I'm doing okay, actually I'm in the middle of a tour of the hospital so now isn't really the best time to…"

"What, why didn't you just say so as soon as you answered, I tell you what I'll pop around to your place later, it's been ages since I've seen my favourite little brother anyway."

"Okay, thanks I … wait a minute; I'm your only brother."

"And a brilliant one too, see you later today, bye." Jesse gave his phone a bemused look then turned, smiling apologetically, back to the two men.

"Sorry, that was Chris, my brother, ringing to see how I was getting on." Steve smiled knowingly at this, and it made Jesse wonder if Steve was an older brother himself, after all he seemed to know the drill. There was a beeping noise and Mark looked down at his pager.

"Sorry Jesse, Steve, I've got to go. Tell you what Steve, why don't you show Jesse some of the local hot spots, that's if he wants to that is." Mark looked at Jesse with questioning eyes.

"Yeah, that'd be cool, it would help me a lot, that's if it's okay with you Steve, I mean I wouldn't want to impose or anything…"

"You wouldn't be, I would be delighted to show you around, come on, we'll get going." Jesse nodded at Mark then hastened to follow Steve, smiling to himself at the prospect of following the older man around the city.

Steve Sloan was in heaven, with all the toppings. When he had offered to show the kid a few of the local hot spots he hadn't expected to have such a good time. Of course he had had ulterior motives, after all the kid was cute, really cute. He looked over at the boy; Jesse was practically squirming in delight as he savoured a double chocolate ice cream.

"Enjoying that?" Steve had to suppress a chuckle as Jesse turned a beetroot red.

"Mmph mph mmph" Jesse turned even redder and quickly swallowed his mouthful of ice cream and said somewhat sheepishly, "Sorry, yeah I'm enjoying it, thanks for getting it for me."

"That's the fifth time you've thanked me, don't, all I did was buy you a chocolate ice cream." Jesse looked down at his feet.

"Sorry…"

"And you can stop saying that too! You've got nothing to be sorry for." Jesse nodded.

"S s… I know." The kid went back to licking his ice cream and Steve watched mesmerised, there was something about Jesse, he was so young and didn't seem to have a care in the world, but Steve was sure that there was more to the kid than what met the eye.


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, here's chapter three, I apologise for the wait but I have been very busy lately, chapter four will be up shortly as well. Flatliner345 thanks for badgering me! Thank you for the reviews so far. Enjoy the chapter, hope to get some feedback. Megan**

Jesse looked out of the window happily as they drove past the hospital, after finishing the tour of the local area Steve had offered to drive Jesse home and Jesse had eagerly accepted. Over the past hour or so Jesse Travis had fell in love. He was sure of it, from the moment he had first set eyes on Steve Sloan he had thought how gorgeous he was, and after realising that he was beautiful on the inside as well Jesse was smitten. Jesse was also running late, he had realised this about half an hour ago but had decided that his big brother could wait. Chris wouldn't mind once Jesse had explained that he was on a sort of date, although Jesse wouldn't mention that this date happened to be a man.

As they pulled up outside his house he cursed himself as he remembered that Chris didn't have a key, therefore he would be waiting outside and would see him pull up with Steve, so much for the hot date excuse. And there he was, standing up from a position on a step and an angry expression on his face. Jesse glanced over at Steve and before he knew what he was doing had invited him in for a drink.

Steve smiled, "I'd love to come in, but erm that guy doesn't look to happy with you so maybe…" Jesse cut him off.

"That's my brother Chris, you two would get along, please, if you're there he won't shout at me for leaving him waiting." Steve looked back at Chris, then at Jesse's pleading eyes then nodded, Jesse's face lit up and he jumped out of the car. He ran over to his brother who pulled him into a hug, then released him and looked him up and down.

"So, my little brother grew up eh?" Chris said fondly.

"Yep, the little brother is also very sorry for being late and will make it up to you by letting you have some of his famous barbeque sauce." Chris pretended to think for a moment and then held out his hand for Jesse to shake.

"Sounds like a fair deal to me. Who's your friend?"

"Oh, right yeah, Chris this is Steve, Steve this is my older brother Chris." The two older men shook hands and exchanged greetings while Jesse hunted around in his pockets for the key to his apartment. Triumphantly he held it up and then opened the door and invited the two men inside.

* * *

Steve looked around the apartment, and then decided that he would have to come back when all of the boxes were unpacked so he could find out more about the boy. He heard laughter from the two brothers in the kitchen and smiled to himself. Jesse seemed happy enough around his older brother and Chris certainly seemed to dote on Jesse but Steve got the feeling that everything was not as it seemed. He decided that he liked Chris, he seemed like a good bloke and there were certain parts of his personality that reminded him of Jesse, physically the two brothers were totally the opposite. Jesse was fair, Chris was dark, Chris towered over Jesse, Steve estimated that Chris was roughly 6 foot 2 inches whereas Jesse was about 5 foot 6. Jesse's features were soft where Chris' were rough and chiselled. If Steve had of seen both of them in the street he wouldn't have recognised them as brothers.

He heard more laughter and then the two men entered the room, Jesse carrying a jar of some sort of sauce, Steve had heard him mention barbeque sauce earlier on and was intrigued.

"So, anyway like I said, I'm sorry that I have to rush off Jess but work's work and my boss is a demon, thanks for the sauce," Chris turned to Steve, "It was nice meeting you Steve, see you Jesse." And with that Chris left without another word, Steve frowned slightly, puzzled at the sudden departure but Jesse didn't seem to be fazed by it so Steve didn't say anything. He did make a note to himself to try and ask more about the relationship between the two brothers later though. Meanwhile he returned to the new sport he had discovered, Jesse-watching. In the few hours that Steve had known the kid he had become intrigued with him. Jesse's whole character was, and there was no other word to describe it, bouncy. He had overcome his initial shyness, although he still seemed to be a bit timid. The kid never seemed to run out of energy, even as Steve watched he ran into the kitchen and back out again, holding something in his hands.

"Steve, I was wondering if you could… well if you've got the time… I mean I wouldn't want to cause trouble but…" Jesse's voice trailed off and he looked down at his feet again.

"Jess, what do you want?", the kid looked up with wide eyes and slightly pink cheeks, Steve made a resolution to himself to help the kid get over his shyness.

"I was wondering if you'd give me a lift to the bank," Jesse's voice picked up pace rapidly, "because I don't know where it is, and I'd probably end up getting lost and…" Steve cut him off.

"Sure I'll give you a lift, c'mon we'll go now." As Jesse delved into a box Steve smiled, another half hour, maybe an hour if he took a long route with this kid, what more could he ask for, oh wait, he corrected himself, how about forever with him. Steve almost jumped, and then mentally scolded himself, he couldn't think like that, the boy probably wasn't even that way inclined, and even if he was, why would he choose Steve when he could get anyone he wanted.

Jesse waved as Steve's car drove past and then let himself into his apartment; he collapsed onto his sofa and sighed dreamily. He looked down at the piece of paper clasped in his hand and a happy smile spread on his face. He entered Steve's cell number into his own cell and then put it down. He wouldn't text him just yet, that would seem needy and strange. After all they had just met and it wasn't even as if Steve liked him the way he liked him, on reflection Jesse supposed that the only reason Steve had even talked to him was because he was new in town and Mark Sloan had encouraged his son to show him around. In reality Steve was probably laughing about him right now, and telling his Dad how amusing his new intern was, and not in a good way.

He jumped as he heard a bang outside and jumped up to the window, someone, maybe a neighbour had dropped a box, Jesse breathed a sigh of relief, then admonished himself, just because he was in a new area it didn't mean he could let his guard drop, walked around his apartment he secured and bolted all the windows and doors, making him feel a little safer, but not totally. Taking a deep breath he sat back down and grabbed a book - 'How to protect yourself against attack'- from a nearby box, making himself comfy he settled back to read it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you for all the reviews, here's chapter four, it's just a short chapter but five will be up soon, enjoy!**

A man with long, dark hair smiled to himself as he put down his binoculars, he rubbed his hands together gleefully and stood up. He made his way back to his car and, glancing at the recently acquired photo on the dashboard, started the engine. When he reached his destination he rushed into the rented garage and looked around smirking, he added the photo, of two men, one of them being his target, to the already full wall, he lightly traced his finger over the man who he was after. A cute doctor, with boyish young looks and a trusting nature. Yes Jesse Travis was going to get what was coming to him, once and for all.


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the long wait for this chapter, I have been very busy preparing for my holidays, doing work on my Art GCSE and then waiting to get the computer fixed. I would like to thank all the reviewers, especially Flatliner for badgering me to get this done. The next chapter is already half written so should be up soon. Thanks again, Megan.**

A week had passed since Jesse had first arrived at Community General, since he had first met Steve Sloan, Jesse had caught glimpses of the man since then but they had not had the chance to talk. Jesse had been starting to think that the older man was avoiding him when he found a note taped onto the inside of his locker, he had been slightly unnerved that someone had managed to open it without the combination but upon seeing who it was from had felt instantly reassured.

_Jesse,_

_Sorry we haven't been able to talk, have been very busy with a murder case, Dad tells me you're settling in fine, but I would love to hear it from you. I'll be in the car park at the end of your shift; maybe I can show you the surfing spots I told you about. _

_Steve_

Jesse looked at his watch; it was already ten minutes after his shift had officially ended, if he wanted to catch Steve he would have to hurry. He got changed at top speed and ran out of the changing room. On his way out he bumped into someone and knocked a whole pile of papers from their hands, he bent down to help and realised that it was Amanda Bentley, the woman who had been with Mark on his first day, he had never spoken to her but had heard from a few of the nurses that she was very friendly with Mark and Steve.

"I'm really sorry Dr. Bentley, I'm late for meeting someone and I'm so clumsy, I just…" Jesse trailed off as the woman started to laugh, he looked at her questioningly.

"Its Jesse right?" she asked softly, he nodded and she continued, "Okay, first of all enough of the Dr. Bentley, its Amanda, second of all don't worry about it, I bumped into you as well, it happens, thank you for helping me pick these up, you better be on your way if you're supposed to be meeting someone." Jesse nodded then hurried off, leaving a slightly bemused Amanda staring after him.

Steve looked at his watch, it had been fifteen minutes since the kid's shift had ended, and h still wasn't here to meet him, maybe he didn't want to be friends with him, although Jesse hadn't given that impression the week before. Just as he was about to give up he hard his name, he turned to see Jesse rushing towards him looking like he'd just run a marathon. He realised just in time that the boy wasn't going to be able to stop and grabbed hold of him to steady him.

"Hey Jess."

Jesse felt as though he were about to melt, those two words, combined with the arms securing him were enough. He fumbled for something cool to say but he couldn't come up with anything, he settled for a simple 'hi'.

"I'm sorry I'm late, I got caught up talking to the kids and then on my way out to meet you I bumped into someone and knocked a whole pile of papers out of her hand, so then I had to…" Steve held his hand up silencing Jesse.

"You know you can breathe Jesse. Just slow down, I'm not going anywhere." Jesse felt the colour rising in his cheeks and grinned sheepishly._ Okay_, he thought to himself, _now you just have to not say anything stupid and make this guy like you._

At the same time Steve Sloan was thinking, _man, I can't get enough of this kid, he's so innocent and _he stopped not wanting to finish that sentence. He had never fell or anyone so hard in such a short space of time before, but he wanted to soak up as much o the kid as possible.


	6. Chapter 6

**First of all I must apologise for taking so long to update, for reasons unavoidable (holidays, sickness, complete lack of time) so the next chapter is finally here. I would love to get some reviews, I have also added another chapter onto the non slash version 'The Art of friendship' if anyone is interested.**

Jesse shifted in his seat and glanced out of the window at the view, they were driving along a coastal road in Malibu, and if he squinted he could see the surfers enjoying the waves. He was eager to get back on a board; it had been far too long since he had last surfed. He fidgeted again and turned to enjoy the view in the other direction, namely Steve Sloan. The detective had one hand on the wheel, the other brushing casually through his hair, a smile was playing on his face and he was humming along quietly to the song on the radio, Jesse didn't recognise the song but he decided he liked it. Steve's hand began tapping the wheel, and his head began nodding slightly to the music. Jesse watched mesmerised, then turned away embarrassed as the older man glanced in his direction.

"Nearly there Jess, then maybe we can have something to eat." It took Jesse a moment or two to register what had been said.

"Eat, yeah that sounds good, so where exactly are we going?" the answer was simple yet it went straight to Jesse's groin.

"My place." Jesse tried to clear his head of the thoughts that had come into his brain at the two words, but they kept popping back for the next five minutes, until they came to a stop outside a house. Jesse gazed at it then turned to Steve.

"This is your place?" a nod as an answer, "It's great Steve, it must be so cool to live right by the beach, and in Malibu, this place has amazing surfing, and it's so beautiful." Steve smiled at the enthusiasm.

"Yeah, it is pretty cool, of course it's my Dad's place really but I've lived here for years, come on inside." Steve led Jesse into the house and smiled as Jesse's curiosity got the better of him, the younger man explored tentatively, with encouragement from Steve. Finally Steve pointed down a staircase, "My room's down there, maybe I'll show you it later." Steve cursed himself as he reacted to that statement, then cursed himself again as the kid turned beetroot red, he didn't want to rush Jesse too soon, and he wasn't even sure if Jesse was that way inclined yet.

Jesse resisted the urge to giggle nervously, not wanting to seem immature, instead he just smiled, then turned back towards the living room, he walked over to the doors that opened out onto the patio and stared outside at the view. Steve walked up and stood next to him, they stood there for a while in silence, then Steve beckoned for Jesse to follow him into the kitchen. Jesse sat at the table and watched as Steve began to prepare some food.

"I'd like to apologise in advice for my cooking skills," Jesse laughed, "Seriously Jesse." This only served to make Jesse laugh louder. The younger man then stood up and walked over to Steve.

"I'll fix us something if you like, I'm a reasonable cook." Steve nodded and took the recently vacated chair. The two men talked as Jesse cooked, Steve watching intrigued at the way Jesse worked, he made it look like an art, and Steve could tell that Jesse was comfortable in a kitchen. Jesse smiled as he stirred the sauce, it wasn't his secret recipe – he hadn't been able to find all of the ingredients- but it would be delicious, of that he was sure. He talked away and was shocked at how comfortable he felt, then he told himself for trusting Steve so soon, then he reasoned with himself, Steve was a cop, he wasn't likely to hurt him. A little while later Jesse dished up and both men tucked into the meal.

"Jesse, this is great, what exactly is it?" Jesse grinned at Steve, his meal was obviously going down as well as he had expected.

"It's chicken and white wine sauce, and I'm glad you like it. So, you glad you let me cook?"

"Definitely, it's a world away from anything I could have made." The rest of the meal was eaten in a comfortable silence, both men smiling at each other from time to time. Once they had finished the main course Steve got some ice cream from the freezer, and poured more wine into the empty glasses.

"Steve, I can't drink anymore, I need to drive, in fact you can't drink more either, you need to drop me back at my car."

"Then stay in the spare room tonight, I can drive you back in the morning." Jesse knew he shouldn't, knew he was letting his guard down, but he couldn't help himself, nodding he took a sip from the glass, then ate a spoonful of the strawberry ice cream. He felt some dribble down his chin, but before he could wipe it away Steve was there, gently stroking his face then licking his own finger clean of the delicious ice cream. Steve smirked as Jesse blushed, but left him alone for the rest of the meal, not wanting to startle the kid.

Meanwhile Jesse was trying to get his head together, did Steve like him? Or was he reading too much into the situation? Should he say something? Or would it ruin any chance at a friendship, or a future relationship? Steve watched as Jesse had a silent battle with himself.

But unbeknown to them someone else was watching, someone who was getting angrier by the second, how dare the detective make a move on His Jesse, how dare Jesse retaliate when he belonged to Him, well, he thought, Jesse will learn soon enough, he would be able to claim what was his, he just had to be patient a little longer, he would get what was owed to him…


	7. Chapter 7

**Here's the next chapter – as promised. Thanks for the reviews of the last chapter. I would really love some more.**

A week later

Amanda Bentley smiled as she looked up from her magazine. She was lying on the beach, catching up on some much needed relaxation. Her reasons for smiling, namely Steve and Jesse, were in the water. They were supposed to be surfing but it seemed to Amanda that they were just messing around. The new intern had only been in their lives for two weeks but already he had made a big impression, Amanda had never known Steve be so open with anyone so quickly before, and Mark was becoming fonder and fonder of Jesse as each day went by. And as for herself, she liked him. Amanda had quickly realised that Jesse Travis was a great guy; she could also see his potential as a Doctor. However she was worried about Steve, she could see how much her friend liked the young intern, and she also knew that he was falling in love with Jesse. She didn't want to see him get hurt, and although she thought that Jesse wasn't the type to intentionally hurt anyone there was still a chance of it happening.

The objects of her thoughts had seen her looking at them and had started to wave, Amanda returned the gesture and went back to reading her magazine, trying to put her worries to the back of her mind, she could deal with them later, for now she was just going to enjoy a rare afternoon off work.

Steve, meanwhile, was having a great time, he had always enjoyed surfing, but surfing with Jesse topped everything. The two men hadn't actually managed to get their surfing done the week before and so this was a new experience for Steve. He had expected Jesse to be a beginner - the intern had been very modest about his skills – but Jesse was fantastic. The way he moved was so graceful, of course Steve did realise that it helped that the kid looked even sexier in his wetsuit than in normal clothes.

"Do you believe in fate?" Steve was startled out of his thoughts and turned to see Jesse drifting next to him.

"What?"

"I said do you believe in fate?" Steve wondered why that question had come up so out of the blue, and was about to ask when he noticed the look on Jesse's face, the kid looked deadly serious, as if the answer was really important, Steve hunted around in his mind for the right thing to say.

"Well, I, I think that to a certain degree there is fate, you know if something's meant to be then it's going to happen, but I think that it nearly always needs a little push, I guess that means you make your own fate, does that help?" Jesse didn't speak for a minute or two then he shrugged.

"I'm not sure if it helps or not, I'll have to have a think." Jesse looked at Steve and saw his confused expression, "Sorry, that was a bit random, huh." Steve nodded and was about to ask Jesse if everything was okay when he heard screaming.

Both men turned towards the beach where they saw a crowd beginning to gather, instantly they grabbed their boards and began running out of the water, curious to see what was going on. They pushed their way through the small crowd and stopped, frozen. Amanda was lying on the sand covered in blood.

Jesse dropped to her side; he began to check her vitals, the doctor in him taking over. "Ambulance," he spoke one word but it was enough for Steve to realise that it was serious; a woman was already shouting their location into her phone. Steve shook himself and knelt down to help Jesse.

"Jess, what do you want me to do?" The young intern looked up, sweating and Steve winced as he saw how pale he was.

"You need to keep pressure on the wound, here." Jesse took Steve's hand and guided him to the injury site; Steve looked down at the blood seeping out from under his right hand and placed his left hand on top. "Steve, she's been stabbed."


	8. Chapter 8

**Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter, sorry to keep you waiting for this one, but we all love a good cliff-hanger! So anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter.**

Jesse watched as Steve paced up and down, the detective had been pacing for the last half hour and Jesse was starting to find it annoying, however Amanda was one of Steve's closest friends and Jesse felt he had no right to interfere in the older man's worry. Jesse looked down and was shocked to see that his hands were still shaking, he had spent about ten minutes on the beach trying to dress the wound as best as he could with the materials he had a t hand, then Amanda had went into cardiac arrest. Even though he had learned about the procedure in medical school, he had never actually had to resuscitate someone before, it had been terrifying. The whole time he had been aware that Amanda's life was im his hands, Steve had helped a little but the pressure had been on Jesse. He had been so relieved when the Paramedics had showed up and taken over, but there had been no time to recover because Steve had pulled him straight to his car and driven to the hospital.

For the whole drive Jesse had been bombarded with questions about Amanda's condition, and he had tried to answer them as best as he could. Looking down at his shaking hands the medical part of his mind told him that he was in shock. There was still blood all over him, on his clothes, his hands, even on his face, he realised that he probably looked like something out of a horror movie, but he didn't want to leave to wash it off in case there was some news.

He couldn't forget the look on Steve's face when he saw Amanda lying there, he had looked so scared. Jesse realised that he had probably hade a similar look on his own face; in fact he was probably still wearing that look. Steve paced past him again and Jesse bit his lip to stop from saying something he might regret, but then the detective walked past again and Jesse snapped.

"Steve, will you please sit down, you're driving me crazy here." Steve looked around, a surprised look on his face; as if he had forgotten Jesse was even there.

"What?" Jesse took a deep breath.

"The pacing is kind of annoying." Steve looked down at his feet with a puzzled look on his face that made Jesse want to hug him, "Steve, come and sit down." The detective nodded and took the chair next to Jesse.

"Jess, what if she doesn't pull through, what if…" Jesse cut Steve off.

"She wont, she'll be okay, she has to be." Jesse realised that he was trying to convince himself as much as Steve. The two men sat in silence for another twenty minutes, then Jesse spoke again.

"Steve, who do you think did this to her?" Steve looked around at Jesse and sighed.

"Jess, it could have been anyone, I mean, it could have been someone I've put away in the past, it could be a former patient, a family member of someone who she's autopsied, or it could have been a random attack. There are people at the scene right now looking for evidence, maybe that will help, but we can't really find out anything until she wakes up."

"Oh, so it could have been like a revenge attack on …" Jesse trailed off and brought his hand to his mouth.

"Jesse, are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost." Steve put a hand on Jesse's arm concerned, but Jesse pushed him away. The intern stood up suddenly and headed for the phone, Steve was about to follow but Jesse gestured for him to stay where he was.

Ten minutes later Jesse returned to his seat, looking very pale and shaky.

"Steve, I know who attacked Amanda." Jesse wouldn't look Steve in the eye, in fact he was looking everywhere but Steve.

"Jess, how can you possibly know? Look, you need to calm down and try and stop shaking, you've had a shock seeing Amanda like that, I'm just sorry that I didn't think about you sooner." Jesse shook his head.

"It's a man named Bryan Conwell, he's from Chicago, he used to live down the road from me." Jesse looked down at the ground, he had never told anybody about Bryan.

"Okay, so why do you think this guy stabbed Amanda?"

"It was like you said, a revenge attack, only against me." Steve was still confused.

"Yeah, but why against you, I mean, what did you do?" Steve almost didn't hear the answer that Jesse half-whispered, half-croaked.

"I left."

"You left, what's that supposed to mean. Jesse look at me." Steve took Jesse's chin in his hand and gently turned him around to face him. Jesse opened his mouth to speak but they were interrupted by a nurse running out.

"Dr. Bentleys awake and stable." She announced, before running back into the room in which Amanda was being looked after. Steve stood up overjoyed that his friend was going to be okay, in his eagerness to see Amanda he forgot about what Jesse was about to tell him. When, ten minutes later, he was herded out of Amanda's room by angry nurses Jesse was gone.


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay, here's another update, it took a bit longer than I thought because I've been revising for an exam (which I had on Monday) But here it is, thanks as always for reviews.**

Jesse sat down on the bench, he felt a bit guilty about leaving but he had needed some time to think. He couldn't believe that Bryan had come after him, but the phone call home had confirmed that Bryan had left shortly after he himself had, and hadn't been back since. Jesse hadn't come straight to the bench; in fact he had been walking for roughly an hour before sitting down. His intention had been to calm down then return to the Hospital and explain what was going on, but he had become more and more panicked and confused.

Standing up, he made a decision, he had no right to be at the Hospital when it was his fault Amanda was now a patient there, Mark and Steve would no longer want to be his friend once they found out the truth, and Jesse wasn't ready to face yet another rejection. So Jesse went back to his apartment, and sat thinking, worrying, planning.

Meanwhile Steve was getting anxious; he needed to know what Jesse was going to tell him, he hadn't expected Jesse to just take off like that. Amanda was to have no visitors until the next morning so Steve decided that he could be more useful elsewhere, he headed straight for Jesse's.

A light was on in the window of Jesse's apartment, Steve had noticed it when he had first pulled up outside, ten minutes later and Steve was still sitting in his car trying to figure out what he was going to say. Leaning towards the radio he turned the volume button up so he could hear the song, a favourite of his, better. He would give Jesse some space first, wait half an hour or so before knocking on the door, from his position on the street he could see if Jesse left. A silhouette appeared at Jesse's window and Steve watched it, wondering just what had happened in the interns past.

A sudden thought occurred to him and he reached for his cell. He dialled the familiar number of his station and asked to be put through to an old friend of his in records. Steve asked his friend very nicely if he could look Bryan Conwell, probably from Chicago and asked for information on a Jesse Travis as an afterthought. His friend promised to ring him back as soon as possible, most likely within the hour, so Steve sat back in his seat, turned the volume up more, watched Jesse's apartment and waited.


	10. Chapter 10

**Here's the next chapter. Thanks for all of the reviews, advice has been duly noted. I've tried to lengthen the chapter. Let me know what you think.**

It was Jesse's turn to pace up and down, he had noticed Steve parked outside about ten minutes ago, and he had been preparing himself for the accusation, the rejection ever since, but Steve was still sitting in his car, apparently waiting for something, or someone. A thought struck Jesse and he groaned, Steve must be waiting for Mark, they were going to confront him together, he couldn't do it. Couldn't handle the disappointed look that would surely appear on both men's faces. Steve, who just a few hours ago Jesse had been thinking about as a potential lover, and Mark, the man who had taken him under his wing, treated him better that he had been treated in a long time. Jesse walked away from the window and into his kitchen; he took out a beer from the refrigerator, took a huge swig from it then poured the rest down the sink, he couldn't be drunk, that would only add to the Sloan's disgust, he didn't want to disappoint them more than he already had.

Leaving the kitchen he went cautiously back over to the window, Steve was still sitting there; apparently unaware that Jesse knew of his presence. The detective glanced up at the window and Jesse jumped away, praying that he hadn't been seen. Going back over to the window was too risky, so Jesse went into his bedroom. He looked around; he hadn't had a chance to make the bed before he had left for the beach that morning and the bedcovers sprawled across the floor only added to the mess. Jesse frowned, he had always been a tidy person, but over the past few weeks he hadn't had time to put everything away, in fact, he reflected, he hadn't made time. He had been too busy settling into his new life, his job, and his new friends. Exasperated he kicked out, hitting his foot off the end of his bed, he ignored the pain. Bryan had once again ruined everything; he would never be able to escape him.

The phone began to ring and Jesse limped over to answer it.

"Yeah, this is Jesse Travis."

"Hey bro, what's up?" Jesse couldn't help but smile, ever since he had arrived in LA Chris had been ringing constantly to check up on him.

"Your phone bill is what's up, must be sky high the amount of times you've been ringing me." A small chuckle on the other end of the line followed that remark.

"Real funny Jesse, is everything okay your end?" Jesse paused, wondering what to say.

"Yeah, err, everything's fine, listen Chris I'm going to have to go, I'm due on a date right about now."

"Mmm, not sure I believe that."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Chris, speak later, bye." Jesse didn't give his brother a chance to reply, he just hung up, then nearly fell over as the doorbell rang. Steve.

Jesse took a deep, shaky breath; he would have to face him sooner or later, so maybe sooner was better than later. He silently closed the door to the bedroom and crossed the living room to his front door, he thought of the last time Steve had been in his home, then thought about the fact that this would probably be the last time he ever saw the detective. He took another deep breath, told himself to be calm and reached for the lock..

Meanwhile, Steve had been having a phone conversation of his own. His cell had rang just as he had noticed Jesse watching him. His friend from records had found out quite a lot about Bryan Conwell, including the fact that he was an ex of Jesse's mother, and that he had a history of violence, in fact he had been charged with stalking someone. As soon as he had hung up he had decided that whatever was going through Jesse's head couldn't be good, which was why Steve was standing waiting for Jesse to answer his ring at the door.

He didn't have long to wait. There was a small click of a lock, the sound of a chain being pulled back, and then the door swung open. Jesse was standing in the doorway biting his lower lip; Steve couldn't help thinking that it would be much better if he were the one biting it. He silently scolded himself, he couldn't afford selfish thoughts right now, Jesse needed a friend.

"Can I come in?" Jesse nodded then turned and headed inside, his limp did not go unnoticed, but Steve decided to ask about that later. Gesturing for Steve to sit in the comfy armchair Jesse took up a position on the sofa, Steve noticed that the younger mans hands were shaking and he was refusing to catch Steve's eyes.

"Jess, are you okay?" Steve surveyed Jesse, he certainly didn't look okay, the intern looked tired and pale, his eyes were shiny and he was still shaking. Jesse looked up at Steve, with a shocked and confused look on his face.

"You d do don't have to be n nice to m me, I I I'm the reason Amanda's in hospital, I und, understand." Realization dawned on Steve; Jesse thought that he was to blame, that he was going to blame him.

"Jess, listen to me, nobody blames you, it's not your fault, I'm not going to stop being your friend, I want to help you, if this Conwell did do this to Amanda then it's his fault not yours."

"B but I'm the reason Bry, he did it, I didn't warn anyone that he might be about or anything like that."

"Jesse you saved Amanda's life, if you hadn't of been there she would have died."

"She wouldn't have been stabbed in the first place if I wasn't there."

"Look, we don't know for certain that this guy did it, and even if he did, you didn't, you saved her life, you were amazing back there, the way you held it together. I was selfish, I forgot about how it would be affecting you, that was the first time you've done that wasn't it," Jesse nodded, "See, it was amazing, you're amazing."

At Steve's words silent tears began to fall from Jesse's eyes, at once Steve moved next to him and gathered him into his arms, rocking him gently, whispering what were hopefully comforting words.

Ten minutes later Jesse lifted his head from where it was buried in Steve's shoulder.

"Thank you, no-ones ever…, what I mean is…" Steve placed a gentle finger on Jesse's lips.

"You don't have to thank me Jesse; I care for you, a lot." Steve looked down into Jesse's eyes, and, hoping that he had read the younger mans emotions correctly, lowered his lips to Jesse's.


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay, sorry for keeping you all waiting, every time I seem to get over a busy time in my life something comes along, I'm sure you all understand what I mean. Thanks again for the reviews, I love getting them and am grateful for any tips as well. On with the story…**

Jesse froze as Steve's lips connected with his own, he couldn't believe what was happening, wasn't sure if it was even possible. Then he realised that he was being kissed by the man that he had fantasised about and he began to kiss back. Tongue collided with tongue, passion with passion as the men shared their first kiss, neither one quite believing what was happening, both of them wanting it to never end. Eventually, when both men needed to breathe, Steve pulled back; he waited for a while before speaking.

"I really hope that you feel the same way about me as I do about you, otherwise I just made a really big fool of myself." Jesse was looking down, biting his lower lip again. "Jess, you've got beautiful eyes, I would love to see them more often." The younger mans cheeks began to turn red, but he slowly lifted his head up and found himself looking into Steve's eyes.

"Steve, I fell for you the day we met, I couldn't believe that someone like you would spend time with me, showing me around, buying me things…" Steve cut him off.

"It was just a chocolate ice cream."

"No, it was more than that; no ones ever treated me like you do, these past few weeks have been like a dream for me, I never thought that people could be so caring, I don't want to ruin what we have as friends." Steve's heart broke as he listened to Jesse's words, it was obvious that Jesse had never really known any real love in his life, and to Steve, who had grown up loved and with everything he needed, he couldn't begin to imagine what Jesse's life had been like.

"Jess, I don't want to ruin our friendship either, but I do want to be more than just friends, if I'm honest I think I've wanted to have something more between us ever since I bought you that stupid chocolate ice cream." Jesse gave a little laugh then smiled.

"I think I want there to be more between us too, but you have to understand that we couldn't rush things, I, I've got a lot of baggage that I need to sort through."

"I know you have, I want us to take everything at your pace, we'll do things when you're ready and not a moment before that."

"You say that now but what happens when you want to take it all the way and I'm not ready?"

"Jesse I'm not in it for the sex, I want to be in a meaningful relationship with you, I'm not after you for your looks, or for your body, I'm in it because of who you are and what I feel for you. So, you think you might want to give it a try, give us a try." Jesse closed his eyes for a second, then opened them again.

"I need you to promise me that you're in this for keeps."

"I promise, if we start this, then as far as I'm concerned its forever." Steve realised that he was now the one who was shaking; he was so scared that Jesse would back out, say he just wanted to stay friends. A few moments passed before the answer came.

"Then forever it is." Jesse leant forwards and gently pressed his lips to Steve's, he held them there for a few seconds then pulled back again. "There's still the problem of B Br Bryan." Steve nodded and stood up, holding out his hand for Jesse to take.

"Jess, we'll sort it out, I'll find proof that he was Amanda's attacker and he'll never be able to hurt you again."

"How do you know he hurt me? All I said was that I left." A confused look was on the younger man's face.

"I rang a friend of mine from Records and asked for information on Bryan Conwell, they told me that he was your mother's ex and that he has a history of violence, then I just put two and two together. Jess, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to but why was he angry that you left? I mean it's not like he's still with your Mum."

"He thinks that he can control me, up until I moved here he did, I think that he hurt Amanda to try and show me that he's still the boss." While Jesse spoke Steve gently led him over towards the door. "Where are we going?"

"I don't know yet, but you can't stay here, he'll know where you live."

"You're going to stay with me, right?" Jesse pulled his jacket on in a casual manner, but he couldn't keep the worry from his voice.

"Jesse, I have to try and find out exactly what happened to Amanda, we're not totally sure that it was Conwell, I'm going to go back to the beach and take a look around."

"Well, why don't I come with you, I know Br, Bry, Bryan better than you, my knowledge might help, besides, I don't really feel like being left alone right now." Steve hesitated for a moment, he didn't want to put Jesse at any risk, but he knew that Jesse would feel a lot safer with him than with anyone else. He looked at the younger man, his face was pale and there was a pleading look in his eyes, it was obvious that he would feel safer with Steve.

"Okay, you can come, but if I tell you to do something you have to do it okay." Jesse nodded, perking up a bit.

The two men didn't speak on the drive over to the beach; both were lost in their own thoughts. Steve couldn't stop thinking about what had just happened between them, he and Jesse had officially become an item. He had taken a risk by initiating a kiss but it had paid off, Jesse felt the same way as he did. Now all that he had to do was to never let anyone hurt Jesse again.

Jesse was feeling confused, his head was all over the place. On the one hand his dreams had come true, Steve had actually kissed him, and not only that he had told him that he wanted to be with him forever. But on the other hand Bryan Conwell had followed him, hurt his new friend and was most likely not going to stop until he had got what he wanted.


	12. Chapter 12

**Here is the next chapter, I was going to wait a little longer to update, because I only got one review for the last chapter, but I had spare time to write it and I'm updating all my other stories so I did this too. I would really appreciate some more reviews though, they tend to make me update quicker as I know that people are still reading, and I'm always ready to get new advice. Anyway here it is, thanks to ****epalladino ****who did review**

Steve pulled the car into the space at the back of his house and looked over at Jesse, the younger man nodded and they got out of the vehicle and headed for the spot on the beach where Amanda had been attacked. The tide had come in, but it never reached all of the way to the top of the beach, meaning that the crime scene was still intact. A small patch of the sand was blood stained; next to it was the magazine that Amanda had been holding. Jesse stood and watched as Steve looked around, the detective knelt down next to a rock and picked something up, curious Jesse moved closer. Steve stood and held out a pack of cigarettes for Jesse to see.

"Does Bryan smoke?" Jesse closed his eyes as a memory invaded his head and he nodded.

"That's his brand." Steve nodded and bagged up the pack, he was about to resume his examination of the crime scene when his cell phone rang. Jesse turned and looked up the beach towards Mark and Steve's home; he frowned when he saw that another car had pulled up, the security light flickered on and Jesse gave a shout when he recognised the car. It was Bryan's.

Steve turned to see Jesse trip and fall, he managed to get to him in time to stop him from hitting the ground and he followed the younger man's gaze. A car was pulling away from outside of his house; he knew that it would be useless trying to chase after it, so he turned his attention to Jesse.

"Jess, was that him?" The younger man nodded and a tear slid down his face, Steve tenderly wiped it away then pulled Jesse close to him, "It's okay Jess, he can't hurt you, he's gone." Steve continued to murmur comforting words as he led Jesse back to the car; he sat him in the passenger seat then walked around to the driver's side. He belted himself in then reached across Jesse's shaking form to do the same for him, he reached up and gently stroked Jesse's face, and then he turned around, put the key in the ignition and began to drive.

Mark was sitting in the doctor's lounge at the hospital when Steve and Jesse entered the room, or rather when Steve guided Jesse in. Upon seeing the look on the two men's faces he stood up and headed for the coffee pot. Steve and Jesse had sat down on the couch when Mark turned back around and he handed both cups to Steve, who held his hands out for them.

"Jess, Dad's made you some coffee, drink it, it'll help the shock." Steve spoke gently but firmly and as he handed the cup to the intern he spoke again, "Watch yourself, it's hot." Jesse nodded and took it carefully, bringing it to his lips for a small sip. The way Jesse's hands were shaking did not go unnoticed by Mark and he looked at Steve questioningly, his son mouthed _later_ to him and he nodded, trusting that Steve knew what was best.

"How's Amanda Dad?"

"She's fine; you'll be able to see her tomorrow, thanks to Jesse." Mark smiled warmly at Jesse, knowing that the intern was now a part of the family. Jesse gave a small, hesitant smile then jumped as Mark's pager went off. "I'm going to have to go," he looked at Steve, "Will you be alright?" It wasn't Steve who answered.

"We'll be fine thanks Mark, will you be long?" Jesse seemed to have brightened up a little bit although he was still shaking slightly.

"I don't know, but you two wait here and we'll talk when I'm done." Steve nodded at his father and Mark stood up and left. Jesse took another sip of the coffee then turned to look at Steve.

"Thank you."

"Your welcome Jess, you feeling a bit better now?"

"I feel safe here, with you, in the hospital." Steve gently squeezed Jesse's hand then stood up.

"I'm just going out in the corridor Jess, I need to make a phone call, just shout if you need anything, okay?" The younger man nodded and gestured for Steve to go. Once the detective had left the room he set his cup down on the table and walked over to the phone. He took a deep breath as he dialled the familiar number. He answered on the third ring.

"Chris Conwell, who's speaking please?" Jesse closed his eyes for a second, he hated hearing his step-brothers second name, it reminded him whose son Chris really was, although the surname was the only similarity between Chris and Bryan. Chris didn't know what Bryan was really like; Jesse had never had the courage to tell him until now.

"Chris, its Jesse."

"Oh, hey bro, what's up?" Chris sounded concerned.

"I need to tell you something, you're not going to like it, and you should probably sit down.

"Jesse, you've got me worried, what's the matter?" Jesse took a deep breath and told him.


	13. Chapter 13

**Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter, hope you all enjoy this one. **

At the other end of the line Chris listened intently, becoming more and more angry as Jesse told him the truth about his Dad and what he had done to him. Once his little brother had finished Chris took a deep breath and sighed shakily.

"Jesse, are you telling me that for all these years my Dad has been abusing you and you never said anything?"

"Y-yes."

"And now he's come after you and he's attacked one of your friends?"

"Y-yes."

"Where are you now?"

"I-I'm at the h-hospital."

"Jesse, stop stammering, I'm coming to the hospital now, just wait for me there."

"O-okay." Chris hung up and grabbed his jacket off the hook; he paused only to grab his keys before running out of the door.

* * *

Jesse placed the phone down and headed back towards the sofa. He sat down with his head in his hands and squeezed his eye's tight shut, trying to calm himself down.

Steve watched through the door and felt his heart break at the sight of his new love so upset, he wanted to just hold him and make everything alright, but he knew that the only way he could make things better was to catch Bryan. He had just finished speaking to his captain, an APB had been put out on Bryan and extra patrols were being sent around the hospitals perimeter.

He gently opened the door and entered, Jesse looked up, an expression of anguish on his face and after locking the door Steve rushed over to sit next to him. He held the shaking form close to him and stroked his hair, trying desperately to comfort him.

"I rang Chris and told him." Steve sat up slightly, shocked that Jesse had actually told his step-brother.

"And?"

"He's on his way here now, Steve, what's happening with Bryan?"

"I've put an APB out on him, but you don't need to worry, I promise that I'm not going to let him hurt you any more. I'm not going to leave your side until we've got him." Jesse nodded and smiled at Steve.

"Steve, I hope you realise that I probably won't let you leave my side for a long time after that." Steve gave a little chuckle then squeezed Jesse tighter.

"Good, 'cause I'm planning on spending a lot of time with you."

"Steve there's something you should know, you might change you're mind about me once you do."

"I doubt anything could but go on."

"B-Bryan ra-rap- he raped me, m-more than once. L-lots of times." Steve breathed in sharply; he had suspected that that was the case but to hear Jesse say it confirmed his worst fears. Steve held Jesse away from him and forced him to look into his eyes.

"Jess, that doesn't change a thing, I still want to be with you, and I still respect you. Nothing that he did to you was your fault; you didn't deserve any of it." Jesse squeezed his eye's tight shut to try and stop the tears from falling, but it didn't stop a few stray ones from falling. Steve once again wiped them away, and then put his forehead against Jesse's.

The two men sat like that until someone tried to get in, Steve stood up gently and walked over to the door, unlocking it carefully. Mark stood in the door way, a determined look on his face; he strode purposefully past Steve and waited while his son relocked the door.

"Now, you two better tell me what's going on."


	14. Chapter 14

**Thanks to all of the people who reviewed the last chapter, here is the next update.**

Jesse bowed his head in embarrassment as Mark gave him a piercing look; he felt Steve sit down next to him and jumped a little when the detective placed a comforting hand on his leg. He looked up and into Steve's face and saw a steely determination there.

"Dad, me and Jess, we're together, as of today. Nothing you can say can change that, so don't even try." Jesse watched apprehensively as Mark raised his eyebrows then surveyed his son. Finally the doctor spoke.

"Well, as long as you make each other happy then that's fine by me. But I was actually asking why Jesse is so upset, Amanda's going to be fine." Steve glanced at Jesse, a question in his eyes and the intern nodded.

"You can tell him Steve." The detective smiled reassuringly at Jesse, then turned back to his father.

"Dad, someone's trying to hurt Jesse. That's why Amanda was attacked, we erm, we went back to the beach and he was there, that's why Jesse was shaken up."

"Amanda's attacker was there?"

"Yes."

"And he's after Jesse?"

"Yes."

"Wow." Mark sat heavily down onto the free armchair and looked at the two men sitting opposite him on the sofa. Before he could say anything else Chris came bursting into the room. Jesse stood up, and bit his lip as his brother looked at him.

Chris took one look at Jesse and knew instantly that his brother had been telling the truth, on his way over to the hospital he had begun to have his doubts, had begun to think that Jesse had been exaggerating. But he knew his brother, and he knew the look on his face, it was the same look that he had worn when he had awoke from nightmares as a child, the one he had worn when he had been picked on by bullies. The one that Chris had never wanted to see again.

Chris walked over towards Jesse, pulling him towards him. Jesse clung onto his older brother and began to sob. Mark stood up and discreetly relocked the door to give them some privacy, then he sat down by his son and laid a hand on his arm, knowing how much it was hurting Steve to see Jesse so upset.

It took ten minutes for Jesse to stop sobbing, he pulled away from Chris, looking slightly ashamed, managing a small smile when his older brother ruffled his hair.

"Jess, I'm so sorry, I should have realised, I should have stopped him from hurting you." A look of alarm appeared on Jesse's face.

"No, Chris, this isn't your fault, you couldn't have known, I-I'm sorry too, he's your Dad and…"

"As far as I'm concerned he is no longer my father, you however are my little brother and he's hurt you," Chris turned towards Steve, "I can help you catch him." Steve nodded, immediately understanding Chris' need to help get Jesse justice.

"We'll sort something out."

* * *

The next few hours were the slowest of Jesse's life, they moved into Mark's office to avoid people interrupting but Steve was constantly on the phone trying to organise some way of capturing Bryan, and Mark was in and out, trying to split his time between his family and his patients. Chris spent the whole time pacing up and down; Jesse had tried to make him sit down, but had quickly realised that he had to let his older brother work some of the anger and aggression out. If Chris was going to help catch Bryan then he would have to be calm.

Jesse himself had been trying to comprehend all that had happened to him in the past few hours. Not only had he and Steve admitted how they felt about each other and decided to make a go of it, but he had told his brother the truth about Bryan, had found out that Amanda was going to be alright, and to top it all off Steve had told Mark about their new relationship. He had been grateful to Mark for being so good about it, he was sure that his own Mum would react very differently to the man he had come to think of as family.

Steve bid farewell to whoever he was talking to and hung up the phone, Jesse looked at him questioningly, wanting to be kept in the loop and Steve gestured for Jesse to follow him. Mark and Chris both noticed the two men leaving the room and Mark smiled slightly, while Chris watched them go, puzzled.

The two men ended up in a storage cupboard, Steve locked the door from the inside then turned back to Jesse. He didn't speak, but he pulled the younger man towards him so that Jesse was leaning on him. Steve rested his chin on the top of Jesse's head and waited while Jesse stopped fidgeting nervously, only then did he speak.

"There's been a sighting of Bryan, out near your place. My captain's given me the go ahead to use Chris. I'm going to ask him to call Bryan, tell him that he wants to help him get you. He'll arrange to meet him somewhere, and we'll pick him up."

"What if he wants Chris to bring me to him?"

"Then we'll pull out, and continue the search." Jesse pulled away, anger and determination in his eyes.

"No, if he wants that then I'll go, I'll get him to admit to what he's done. It might help me get closure anyway."

"But Jess…"

"Steve, you and I both know that the chances of finding him without me or Chris are practically non-existent. Promise me that you'll let me help if need be." Jesse looked into Steve's eyes and the detective sighed, it was against his better judgement, but he knew that what Jesse was saying was true.

"I promise." Jesse smiled and cuddled back into Steve, he didn't see the startled look in Steve's eyes. The one that appeared when he realised that he would never be able to resist the puppy dog look that had been in Jesse's eyes.


	15. Chapter 15

**Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter. I've said it before but I'll say it again, I really appreciate getting feedback. Hope you enjoy this one.**

Mark watched as Steve helped Jesse attach his wire onto his chest, next to him Chris tapped his knuckles on the table anxiously and Mark turned and gave him a reassuring smile. When Chris had called Bryan his father had been thrilled to hear that he wanted to help him, had told him to bring Jesse to a meeting place. He had instructed Chris to lure Jesse to a warehouse then trap him in there, then to leave and await a phone call. Steve had almost stopped the whole thing upon finding out that Chris was going to have to leave Jesse alone with Bryan, but Jesse had quietly reminded him of his promise.

Now the four men were at the station getting prepared for the operation, Mark frowned as he noticed the tension in his son's body, the worry that was clear on his face, the way his hands shook as he attached the wire onto the interns chest. Then he studied Jesse, sitting on a desk patiently, the intern had a determined look on his face, mixed with fear and nerves, but Jesse didn't seem to be focusing on himself, his eyes were locked onto Steve's and he was muttering something, Mark couldn't tell what but the words seemed to make his son relax a little.

Mark thought back on the conversation they had had before, when Steve had told him that he and Jesse had got together. He was secretly pleased, he had known for a while that his son liked men, and he had had his suspicions about Jesse when he had seen the way the intern acted around Steve. He liked Jesse and could see how much he cared for his son, and he didn't find it hard to think of the intern as one of the family. He shook himself; there was time to think about that later, for now he had to be there for his son.

He knew himself how hard it was to watch someone you love go into a dangerous situation, had seen his son walk into danger too many times, now the roles were reversed and it would be his son watching helplessly as Jesse went into the action. Mark wasn't totally sure that Steve would be able to handle it.

* * *

Jesse smiled reassuringly at Steve as the detective finished attaching the wire, he could see how scared for him Steve was and that made him feel special. The older man smiled back at him the looked behind him as a uniformed officer entered the room. Jesse watched as Steve went over and spoke to him. Then bit his lip nervously as he came back.

"It's time Jess, I'm going to be following you all the way, I'll be able to hear what's going on at all times, it'll be over with soon." Jesse nodded and slid off the desk. Mark and Chris joined them and they made their way down to the parking lot. From the passenger seat in his brothers car Jesse watched as Steve got into his.

They drove to the warehouse in silence, Jesse watching Steve in the wing mirror the whole time. They arrived at their destination and Jesse looked at his big brother taking a deep breath.

"Let's get this over with." Jesse spoke clearly, ensuring that Steve could hear him over the wire before pushing the door open and stepping out of the car.

* * *

Unseen to the men Bryan watched, a smile on his face. He took a quick glance in the box at his feet, making sure he had everything that he needed. He had been waiting so long to see Jesse again, to show him who was in charge, to hear his screams again. It was going to be perfect. His smile grew as he watched his son lead Jesse into the warehouse, and then emerge again a few minutes later without him. He waited until Chris' car had gone and then picking up his box he moved towards the warehouse, excitement running through his body at the thought of what was about to come. It was going to be perfect. 


	16. Chapter 16

**Okay, here is the next update. Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter. Took me a little longer to update this than planned, but hopefully you all enjoy it. I have been starting to dabble in a few other fandoms so have been reading, reading and reading when I should've been writing, writing, writing! Enjoy.**

Jesse shivered; Chris had had to lock him inside the warehouse for appearances sake. He wasn't sure whether the shiver had been due to the cold or his nerves. As soon as Chris had left the reality of what was happening had hit him. He was going to be alone with Bryan. He shook himself, Steve was just outside and Jesse knew that the detective would come to his aid as soon as he gave the signal – that had been arranged beforehand. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice Bryan enter. Nor did he notice Bryan walking up behind him.

"Hello Jesse." Jesse jumped as he heard the whisper in his ear, and then forced himself not to shout out as the older man put his hand on his shoulder. Bryan walked around him so that they were facing each other and Jesse looked down at the floor. "Look at me Jesse." Jesse's thoughts flashed back to another time, another place, when those same words had been uttered to him. He had ignored them then, and had suffered for it. He slowly lifted his head up and looked Bryan in the eyes. The older man studied him intently for a moment or two and then viciously backhanded the intern across the face.

* * *

Outside in his car Steve cursed as he heard the slap and then the cry of pain that had escaped Jesse's mouth. His hand was on the handle of the door when Mark laid a hand on his arm.

"Son, there isn't enough proof yet. Bryan hasn't admitted to anything, I know it's hard but Jesse asked you to wait."

"Dad, you can't expect me to just stand by while Jesse gets hurt!"

"I know it's hard but you have to wait, remember, Jesse can pull out of this any time he wants to. Just hang on a bit longer." Steve nodded, he knew that he had to wait, had to push his feelings aside, for Jesse. The intern needed closure, or at least some sort of justice, and this was the only way he could get it. Steve wasn't going to be the one to deny him. He listened carefully and frowned as he heard a click that sounded strangely familiar, he couldn't be certain but he was pretty sure that Jesse had been handcuffed to something.

* * *

Jesse bit his lip as Bryan walked him over in front of a wall, attached a handcuff around his wrist, and then connected the other half to a rail above his head. Then Bryan backed away and stood, once more looking at him, the intern tried to focus; he knew that he had to get Bryan to admit to hurting Amanda, and he knew he would have to act fast.

"Y-you st-stabbed Amanda." Bryan smirked but didn't say anything. Jesse fidgeted, his arm was starting to ache slightly and the handcuff was cutting into his wrist.

"You f-followed me here an-and you stabbed my friend." This time he got an answer.

"You need to learn whose boss, your friend was a warning, you chose to ignore it. It's your fault." Jesse shook his head trying to speak, but no words would come out – Bryan had inadvertently voiced Jesse's earlier thoughts.

Jesse cried out once more as Bryan punched him in the stomach, his body began to double up in pain but Bryan grabbed him by his shirt and held him up. Jesse opened his mouth, about to shout out for Steve to come and help, but Bryan took advantage of his open mouth and forced his tongue down Jesse's throat. For a moment the intern froze, knowing what Bryan was about to do, then he bit down hard on the older mans tongue. Bryan jumped away, holding his hand up to his mouth, but he recovered faster than Jesse had thought and he covered the intern's mouth with one hand, and then backhanded him once more. Jesse's head rolled back against the wall and he fought to remain conscious, however Bryan grabbed hold of him by his collar and once again slammed him into the wall. Jesse gave in to the darkness.

* * *

Steve had jumped out of the car the moment he had heard the thud as Jesse went into the wall. What he hadn't been expecting was to be greeted with four men with guns. He had rounded the corner to the entrance, so Mark wasn't in danger. However he had dropped his radio so he had no way of summoning back up.

He was crouched behind a dumpster, he winced as he heard shots, whoever the men were, they were serious. He was aware that every second he wasted outside, Jesse was in danger inside.


	17. Chapter 17

**Aargh! I have severe writers block. This story, a POTC story and several Bill stories have been giving me major problems, but am going to try and write this chapter, will probably be a bit shorter than the last few have been, but I really want to get something up for all you lovely reviewers! So here goes. **

Steve risked a look around the corner of the dumpster and smirked slightly, one of the men was reloading his gun and Steve took the chance to shoot at him, the man crumpled to the ground clutching at his shoulder and one of his companions turned to help. Steve grimaced, he hated to shoot, preferred to apprehend suspects without violence. But Jesse was in trouble, and it was the only way. The second man went down, and didn't move, a third ran off, deciding that the money he would receive for his part wasn't worth being shot at. However the fourth stayed and fired a couple of return shots, Steve ducked back behind the dumpster and took a deep breath. He had to get to Jesse.

* * *

Jesse had not been allowed to rest for long; Bryan had watched him with a morbid satisfaction for a minute or two, then had decided to resume his fun. Jesse groaned as his cheeks were slapped lightly, and then whimpered as Bryan tore at his shirt. He closed his eyes, waiting for something to happen but a few minutes and no blows came. He slowly opened his eyes and they widened in horror as he realised what Bryan was looking at, the wire.

His mouth opened, he wanted to shout out, but he couldn't speak, so he closed his mouth again and looked down. Then the wire was yanked off his chest and he bit down on his lip to stop himself from shouting out, the fear of what Bryan might do to him overcoming the need to shout out for Steve.

And suddenly there was a knife in Bryan's hand. Jesse flinched away, backing himself into the wall. The knife was held next to his ear.

"Maybe I should cut your pretty little ear off," Bryan snarled in his ear, "Or maybe a finger." Bryan grasped Jesse's free hand and pushed it up against the wall, holding the knife threateningly over his little finger.

"N-no, pl-please, I'm sor-sorry." The knife was held up against his throat and he continued to plead with Bryan to stop, even as he was released from the handcuffs. He didn't even consider trying to escape; just let Bryan pulled him towards the door, all of the old routine coming back to him.

Bryan stopped as they reached the door and ran his fingers through Jesse's ear then whispered softly in his ear.

"Try anything, and I swear that I'll kill you, don't think I won't because I will whore." Bryan bit down hard on Jesse's shoulder, causing the younger man to whimper once again. Jesse nodded slightly and the older man increased the pressure of the knife slightly, and Jesse gasped as he felt blood trickle down his neck then closed his eyes as the bright light streamed into the warehouse.

* * *

Steve was just about to take another shot at the fourth man, when the front door opened.

"Come out pigs, I know you're there," Steve's heart stopped at the words, "Come out, or I'll slit his throat." Steve watched as the fourth man disappeared, even he wasn't loyal enough to go down for attempted murder. The detective stood up and walked around to the front of the building, eyes falling on his father stepping out of the car. The look of horror on his father's face made Steve hesitate, and then he turned and saw it.

Bryan had a knife to Jesse's throat. The intern's shirt was gone, and so was the wire. Bruises were beginning to appear on Jesse's face and blood was trickling down his neck. But worse than that was the pleading look that Jesse gave him.

"Me and the whore here are going to go, and if any of you try to stop us, then he's going to pay."

"You're not leaving with him." Steve turned, expecting to see his father talking. But the words had come from Chris.

"Watch me."


	18. Chapter 18

**I must apologise once again for the length of time I have taken to post this chapter. The past couple of weeks have been non-stop work, coursework, revision, nights out with the Brownies. I started to write this about a week ago, but art coursework got in the way and I didn't have a chance to finish it until now. ****This chapter had a massive twist in it, and I hope that I pull it off okay. ****Here it is, hopefully the next chapter will be up quicker, however I can make no guarantees, I can only promise to update as soon as possible, thanks as ever to all readers and reviewers, enjoy.**

Jesse began to shake uncontrollably, the intern looked at his brother and shook his head, he didn't want Chris to put himself in danger.

"Me and Jesse are going to go now, and if any of you follow us, it'll be Jesse that pays. I mean it, after the things this little whore's done recently I wouldn't hesitate for a second. A white van came speeding around the corner and pulled up next to Bryan, the man who had ran off before was driving and Jesse began to struggle as Bryan pulled him towards the back doors of the van. The intern's eyes flew to Steve and he met the detective's eyes, hoping that Steve would see in them the love that he felt for him. However he flinched when he saw the stony look that had appeared on the detectives face, and his heart broke as he realised that Steve didn't love him any more, not after he'd seen how weak he was.

* * *

Steve watched helplessly as Jesse was thrown into the back of the van, his fists were clenched and he had to fight not to run over to Bryan and throttle him for what he was doing to Jesse, but he knew that he had to stay where he was, for Jesse's sake.

As soon as the van had driven away he headed for his car and spoke into the radio, ordering an APB on Bryan and Jesse, and issuing orders to wait for him before approaching them.

* * *

Jesse backed up into the corner of the van and looked warily at Bryan, he tried to control the shaking but as Bryan approached him it became even more violent. The older man crouched down in front of him and began to gently stroke the side of his face, Jesse tried to pull away but Bryan put his other hand on the back of his head and stopped him from moving. Jesse began to sob as Bryan's thumb traced over his lips and then gasped in shock as he was pressed against the inside of the van, one of his hands around the interns throat, the other in his hair.

"I taught you years ago not to play games with me, so why did you think you'd get away with it?" Jesse squeezed his eyes shut as the first blow came, then curled up to try and protect himself from the ones that followed. The beating seemed to go on forever, and only ended when the van came to a stop. Jesse groaned as his abused body was pulled upwards, tape was placed over his eyes and mouth and he stumbled slightly. Hands were all over him, pushing him out of the van.

Jesse froze on the spot, he knew that once he was inside he wouldn't be able to escape, but how was he supposed to run away when he couldn't see where he was going? He didn't have a chance to make a decision.

Three shots rang out, and he cried out as he was pushed to the ground, more shots, and then there was silence. Jesse lay trembling on the ground, not sure of what was going on. Then there were more hands, gentle this time, but Jesse still tried to flinch away. The hands pulled him up so that he was sitting, and then the tape across his mouth was slowly pulled off, followed by the tape across his eyes. He blinked a few times, trying to focus and then raised his head. His eyes widened as he saw the person crouching in front of him.

"Dad?"


	19. Chapter 19

**Thanks to all of the people who reviewed the last chapter. This is now officially the only chapter story that I'm working on, so the updates should become a bit more frequent. I have no medical background whatsoever, so forgive me if I make any mistakes in this chapter. Hope that you all enjoy this chapter.**

Jesse flinched as his father touched his arm, and then began to struggle as he tried to help him up. He could see the gun in his father's hand, just as he could see Bryan and the other man lying on the ground. Jesse twisted away from his father's grip and went to the two men. The man who had been working with his step-dad was dead, he'd been shot in the head and in his stomach, and a bullet had also grazed his side. Bryan was still alive, Jesse felt his step-dads pulse, it was slow. The man had been shot once, in the shoulder, Jesse gasped as he saw the amount of blood that had already been lost from the wound.

"Dad, you need to come here and put pressure on the wound," Jesse turned to face his father, but the older man did not move, "Dad, pressure on the wound, now."

"No, Jesse, leave him to die, he deserves it." His father spoke with venom in his voice and Jesse recoiled in fear.

"Dad, I'm a doctor, well I'm almost a doctor, I took the Hippocratic Oath, I'm not going to let him die, please help me." The older Travis looked at his son incredulously, but moved next to him and pressed his hands down onto the wound.

"I'm only doing this for you, if it was up to me this moron would die for what he's done to you." Jesse looked at his father, so many questions on his tongue, but he knew that his focus had to be on his patient. He turned back to Bryan and began a more thorough examination, muttering phrases from text books under his breath. He had only been in his internship for two and a bit weeks, he knew that he was nowhere near prepared enough for this. Jesse leant forward to listen to Bryan's breathing, he couldn't hear anything.

"Do you know CPR?" Jesse glanced at his father.

"Yeah, why?"

"Good, you can help me." Jesse took a deep breath and placed the heel of his hand in the centre of Bryan's chest, still muttering nervously under his breath he began chest compressions, stopping to allow his father to breathe twice into Bryan's mouth. Father and son repeated this process again and again, both breathing sigh's of relief when they heard sirens. Paramedics came running up behind them and took over, Jesse leaned on his father gratefully as he helped him over to a crate, which the young intern collapsed on top of, finally allowed his abused body some rest.

Jesse watched the paramedics work, not registering the other sirens that began to get closer. He flinched when a hand touched his shoulder.

"Jess, are you okay?" At the sound of the voice Jesse looked up and tried to stand, gentle hands wrapped around his waist, helping him and Jesse laid his head on Steve's chest and began to sob. The detective kept one hand around the intern's waist, bringing the other up to soothingly and gently rub his back.

"Jess, I need to know if you're okay. I know you're hurt, but have you been shot or anything?" Jesse shook his head against the detective's chest, and Steve gave a sigh of relief, catching his father's eye. Mark was standing watching the scene with a haunted look in his eye.

"Detective?" Jesse lifted his head to look at the paramedic that had addressed Steve, "We couldn't save him; we've called the time of death." Steve nodded at the paramedic, and then gently cupped Jesse's cheek, wiping away the tears.

"Jesse, are you okay?" Jesse turned to face the man who had asked the question, his father.

"You killed him."


	20. Chapter 20

**Thanks again for the reviews. Took longer to update than I would have liked, coursework just keeps getting in the way. Here's the next chapter. It's quite dialogue based and shorter than the last couple of chapters have been, but hopefully it will still be okay.**

Jesse turned to Steve, a confused look on his face. 

"He killed him. I don't understand, Steve he killed him." Jesse began to sob and the detective pulled the younger man into a comforting embrace, Steve turned to look at the man Jesse was talking about.

"And you are?" Steve studied the man, he was tall and muscular, and his grey hair didn't make him look old, only distinguished. The man watched Jesse for a moment, and then met Steve's eyes. 

"I'm his father. You are?" Steve paused, taken aback and not sure how to answer the question that had been fired back at him.

"He's my partner," for the first time since Steve had arrived on the scene Jesse remembered the look that had been on the detectives face when Bryan had pulled him into the van, "Or at least I think he is."

"Jess, what do you mean? Of course I am, I thought we'd established that." The intern looked down at his feet, embarrassed. Steve turned to Jesse's father, a challenging look on his face. "Do you have a problem with that?" 

"No, but if you hurt my son, I'll hurt you, understood?" Steve opened his mouth to reply, but he never got the chance.

"I am here you know, and this isn't helping," he looked at his father, "Why did you kill him? Why are you carrying a gun? And why are you here?"

"Jesse, I can answer your questions later, right now you need to get to a hospital."



"I agree." Jesse turned abruptly, he hadn't even realised that Mark was there.

"Mark, I will go to the hospital, just as soon as I have my answers."

"Jess, I'll answer you later."

"You're forgetting I know you, you won't be around later, and you're never around when it matters!" Jesse's voice rose steadily with each word, and as he finished his sentence he turned away from his father and began shakily walking over to the coroner's wagon that had just arrived. Steve followed, wrapping arm around Jesse's waist to help him walk.

Mark watched sadly as Jesse broke down in sobs again, and then shot a questioning look at the intern's father.

"I'm Mark Sloan, Steve's dad, and Jesse's boss"

"Dane Travis. Worst father in the world." Mark didn't even try to tell him he was wrong. "It was nice meeting you; will you do me a favour?"

"It depends on the favour." Dane's lip twitched, but he refused to smile.

"Look after my son, make sure he's happy, and tell him I'm sorry." Mark watched, annoyed, as Dane Travis walked away from his son once again.


	21. Chapter 21

**Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter, and I hope you like this one, enjoy.**

Steve paced up and down the corridor, anxiously waiting for news on Jesse's condition; it had been half an hour since they had arrived at the hospital, Jesse lying unconscious on a stretcher. Chris was on the phone, for the last ten minutes he had been trying to get through to Jesse's mother, but she was working and was refusing to come to the phone. Steve shook his head disbelievingly, the woman was so caught up in herself and her work that she didn't even have time for her own son, then he frowned, imagining what Jesse's childhood must have been like. The intern had grown up with a Dad who was never there, a Mum who cared about her work more than her own son, and a step father who had abused him.

The door to the hospital room opened and Steve's head snapped up, a questioning look on his face. His father ran a hand over his face, sighed and then gestured for Steve to sit down. Chris took the chair next to him, an equally worried look on his face. They both looked at Mark expectantly.

"Physically he'll be okay. He's been pretty badly beaten, and he's got a mild concussion, luckily Bryan didn't get a chance to use that knife on him, if he had of who knows how bad his injuries could have been. But he's very shaken, and he won't let the nurses touch him, we're going to have to do the things that the nurses would usually do."

"Of course we will." Steve nodded approvingly at Chris' statement. He was glad that Jesse's brother was there, not only would he be able to help Jesse through his recovery, Steve had a feeling that Chris would also be an extra support for him.

"Dad, can we see him now?" Steve looked at Mark hopefully, he needed to see for himself that Jesse was alright, and he wanted to be there for Jesse, he had a promise to keep.

"Yes, but one at a time, I don't want him to get excited." Steve looked at Chris, who nodded knowingly at him and gestured for him to go first, a small smile playing on his lips.

Steve stood frozen in the doorway to Jesse's room, the intern was staring into space and hadn't realised that there was someone in the room. He had two black eyes, and there was a bite mark on his shoulder. Tears began to fall from his eyes and Steve shook himself, and then ran to be by Jesse's side.

Jesse shifted slightly on the bed to make room for Steve and the detective climbed in next to him, he pulled the younger man close and kissed the top of his head. Then, as Jesse buried his head in his shoulder he began to murmur comforting words, telling Jesse that he was safe, and that Bryan would never hurt him again.

It was only when Jesse finally let sleep to claim him that Steve finally allowed his own tears to fall.


	22. Chapter 22

**Thanks again for reviews. Looking back I've realised how much shorter my chapters have been getting again, so I've tried to make this chapter a better length. Let me know if you think it's better. Sorry again for the time it took to update, will try and be quicker next time, of course, reviews might spur me on.**

Three days and nights had passed since Bryan's death, three long, hard days and nights. Mark had kept Jesse in the hospital; he had taken no notice of Jesse's protests and had threatened to keep Steve out of his room if he argued any more. Steve had asked for a weeks leave from work, but had been refused, so instead of spending every waking moment with Jesse like he wanted to he was snatching time in between shifts during the day. Luckily he had managed to swap his night shifts with a colleague, meaning that he was there for Jesse when he woke up sobbing in the middle of the night.

Jesse had been unable to talk about the nightmares, and had yet to mention anything about Bryan or what had happened. When anybody other than Steve was in the room he became quiet and withdrawn, flinching away when anybody tried to touch him. Mark and Chris had tried, and failed to get Jesse to open up. All three men were worried, and Steve was getting desperate, he knew that Jesse needed to face up to what had happened, but he didn't know how to help him. Which was why he was sitting in a chair next to Amanda's hospital bed, waiting for her to wake up and hopefully give him some advice.

_

* * *

_

Thirteen year old Jesse slammed the door to his bedroom and leant against it, sliding down onto the floor. He ran a shaky hand through his hair, and tried to calm his breathing. He gasped as he brought his hand away and saw the blood, and then fell silent as he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Someone tried to open the door, but Jesse was in the way, the person tried again, with more force this time and Jesse was knocked forward, his already injured head knocked off the floor and he shouted out in pain.

_Rough hands pulled him to his feet and Jesse squeezed his eyes tight shut, opening them again when he was slapped harshly across the face. He whimpered in fear at the look on Bryan's face._

"_Strip." Jesse lowered his head at Bryan's order. "Now, unless you want me to do it for you." Reluctantly Jesse began to unbutton his shirt, fumbling with he buttons, he knew what was coming, knew the pain and humiliation that Bryan was about to inflict on him. "For Gods sake, can't you go any faster?" Jesse was thrown down onto the bed, and began to struggle as hands tugged at his _

_clothes. He squeezed his eyes tight shut once more, trying to prepare himself for the attack that was about to come..._

"Noooooooo." Jesse sat up in the bed, tears streaming down his face. Immediately strong arms surrounded him, comforting words were muttered in his ear. Once he had finished sobbing the intern buried his face in Steve's shoulder.

"Jess, are you okay?" Jesse shook his head, and then sat up, looking Steve in the eyes.

"I was so scared, I though I'd never see you again. I thought I would be with Bryan forever." Steve let out a sigh of relief, it was the first time Jesse had talked about how he was feeling, and although Steve hated to hear Jesse suffering it was a breakthrough.

"Jess, I would never have let that happen. I'm just sorry that I ever let you go into that warehouse." Jesse interrupted Steve before he could continue.

"Hey, it's not your fault, I chose to go in, and you tried to stop me, the only person to blame is Bryan." Steve nodded, and then lay back on the bed, revelling in the feel of Jesse's head on his shoulder. As Jesse drifted back off to sleep Steve relaxed for the first time in days, knowing that they were going to be okay.

* * *


	23. Chapter 23

**Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter; they are, as always much appreciated. **

_One Month Later_

The man looked down at the scrap of paper in his hand and read out the address to the cab driver. Then, sighing contentedly, he sat back in his seat to admire the view. It had been too long since he had been in California, too long since had been home. He was looking forward to seeing his friends again; work commitments had made it hard for him to get back to visit them, and every time they had tried to visit him something had come up. Which was why he had decided to surprise them.

The cab turned a corner and the man smiled, they were in the area that he had grown up in. In fact as they drove by he recognised a few of the faces, a little older maybe, but still the same people. A few minutes later and they were in another part of the city that meant a lot to him, they drove by the hospital, which seemed so familiar yet so different to.

He saw the sign to Malibu and the grin on his face grew bigger, he knew that it wouldn't be long before he saw his family again.

* * *

Jesse watched with a pout on his face as Steve made his way up the beach with his surfboard. Mark had told him he wasn't allowed to go surfing until he was fully recovered. The pout threatened to give way into a smile as he took in the sight. Steve was wearing trunks, but the water was making them cling to him. Droplets of water were travelling down the detective's chest and Jesse's eyes followed their journey. The detective in question grinned, and then flopped down onto the sand next to him.

"Feeling any happier Jess?" Jesse scowled in Steve's direction, and then turned away; grinning once Steve couldn't see him. He got the desired effect, strong arms were wrapped around him and he was pulled back so that he was lying on Steve's chest. "Jesse, it's for your own good, I know it's frustrating but…" Feeling guilty Jesse interrupted.

"Steve, it's alright, I understand. "

"Really?" The concern in Steve's voice made Jesse feel loved.

"Really, can we go inside now? I'm getting really hungry." Steve nodded and stood up, pulling Jesse with him.

"You're always hungry." Steve took Jesse's hand in his own and they walked back up to the beach house happily. Steve went to take a shower, leaving Jesse to munch happily on some cookies that they'd found hidden in the back of a cupboard.

As Steve stood under the warm water he thought about Jesse, the younger man had improved so much since the night when he had finally broken down in the hospital. Physically Jesse was almost back to normal, he still had a few bruises, and his ribs were still sore, but apart from that all evidence of his beating was gone. But the psychological effects of years of abuse at the hands of Bryan were still having a big effect on Jesse's life. He still suffered from nightmares, although they were less frequent since he had moved into the beach house. He didn't have any confidence in himself at all, and found it hard to meet strangers. Mark had assured his son that it was nothing more that a self esteem problem, and could be fixed with a lot of love, patience and care. Steve knew that Jesse was depending on him to give him that. He was pulled abruptly from his thoughts by a loud crash.

Steve jumped out of the shower, pulling on a dressing gown before rushing out to find out what was going on. Jesse was knelt on the floor, trying to clean up the broken pieces of a mug with his bare hands.

"Jesse!" Steve rushed over to him, "Leave it, I'll clean it up in a minute." Jesse nodded and stood up, looking down at the floor in embarrassment. Steve turned as a familiar voice came from the door.

"I'll clean it up; it's my fault it's broken in the first place." Steve's mouth dropped in shock as the visitor breezed past him and began walking through the house, exploring as he went. Steve followed and when the man finally stopped looking around he spoke.

"What are you doing here Jack?"


	24. Chapter 24

**Thanks again for the reviews, have managed to get another chapter written, despite being ill. So here goes.**

Jesse watched as Steve and the stranger – Steve had called him Jack – embraced, he shivered and turned back to the door which had been left open. He shivered again, but not from the cold, ever since he could remember he had locked all of the doors and windows to keep safe from Bryan. When he had moved into the beach house for the duration of his recovery both Mark and Steve had promised to keep all of the doors and windows closed while he was there. He slammed the door shut, and then tried to control his breathing which had become fast and erratic.

He shut his eyes as he heard Steve's laughter coming from the kitchen; opening them again he looked down at the broken mug on the floor and cursed himself. When he had answered the door nobody had been there, or so he had thought, then the stranger – Jack –had jumped out at him, causing him to drop the mug in shock. The voices from the kitchen were becoming considerably louder, and Jesse sighed, resigning himself to the fact that Steve obviously wasn't going to bother introducing him. After grabbing a dustpan and brush he cleaned up the mug, and then headed down to Steve's bedroom, his clothes were sandy and he wanted to change into something more comfortable.

When Jesse had arrived at the beach house Steve had insisted that Jesse take his room, because the bed was more comfortable than the one in the guest room. He pulled on a pair of sweats and then searched around the room for a clean t-shirt. He smiled as his eyes fell on one of Steve's old tops, which was now too small for him. The detective had given it to Jesse on the day that he had arrived, to make him feel safe when he wasn't at home with him. He put it on, and then headed back upstairs and into the kitchen. Steve and Jack were sitting at the table, talking earnestly to one another. Jesse stood in the doorway watching, it was clear to Jesse that whoever Jack was, Steve was obviously close to him.

Jesse cleared his throat, but continued to go unnoticed by the two men; he pouted angrily then walked over to the kitchen counter and began taking pots and pans out of the cupboards, clashing them down on the bench loudly in a bid to be noticed. Steve was being very selfish, in Jesse's opinion, the detective knew that Jesse found it hard meeting strangers, and yet he was totally ignoring him. He turned to get something out of one of the other cupboards and walked into Steve.

"Jesse, I'd like you to meet Dr Jack Stewart, a very good friend of mine." Jesse looked at the man standing next to Steve and gave a small smile, then turned back to what he was doing. He grabbed the jar of honey from the counter and unscrewed the lid, pouring some into the nearest pan before 

reaching out his hand for the next ingredient. Steve's hand moved on top of his and kept it still on the counter.

"Jesse, come and sit down, Dad's already got plans for tea, and I want you and Jack to get to know each other." Jesse sighed, but headed over to the table, taking the seat nearest the doors that led out onto the patio. He gazed out at the sea, then watched two runners make their way along the sands, Steve and Jack had resumed their conversation and for the first time since he had met Steve he felt unwelcome, like he wasn't wanted. When Steve suggested a walk on the beach, Jesse declined, saying that he probably wanted some time to catch up with Jack. Ten minutes after they had left the telephone rang.

Mark smiled as he got out of his car, Jack's car was parked in front of the house, Steve had called him at the hospital to tell him that there would be an extra person for their meal tonight. He was looking forward to seeing his old friend again; Jack was like a second son to him, and he had missed him. He pushed open the front door and made his way through the house, it was surprisingly quiet, except from a sobbing sound that was coming from the kitchen. Dropping the bags of groceries that he was carrying he hurried into the kitchen and sighed at the sight that greeted him.

Jesse was curled up on the floor by the doors, shaking with tears streaming down his face. Mark was by his side immediately, pulling Jesse towards him.

"Jesse what's wrong? What's happened?" The intern looked up at him.

"My M -mom."

"What about her?"

"She hates me."


	25. Chapter 25

**I know it's been along time since I've posted, but I did post a warning in the summary and in the profile that it would be. This chapter is much shorter, as I'm still revising for my exams, but I wanted to get an update posted, and I didn't want to write an authors note without writing some of the story as well.**

**However I'm thinking about taking the whole story down and going back and editing it as I'm not really happy with it. What do you think?**

**Let me know, review, PM me or whatever.**

Steve watched with a smile on his face as Jack walked towards him, a chocolate ice cream in his hand. Jack hadn't changed at all; he still had the same carefree attitude that he'd had when Steve first met him. His muscles had become slightly more defined, but he had managed to hold onto his boyish good looks. The two had met a long time ago, when Jack had been about twenty one years old. Steve could still remember the flack that Jack had taken from his family and friends for hanging around with a cop, just as he could remember how loyal his friend had been to him and his father over the years.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Jack grinned at Steve, a questioning look in his eyes. Steve chuckled before answering him.

"Just thinking about what it was like when we first became friends." Jack nodded, and began to eat his ice cream. The friends stood and watched some surfers for a few minutes, and then Jack spoke again.

"So what's the deal with you and Jesse?" Steve looked at Jack wide-eyed, "Come on Steve, what, do you think I didn't see the look on your face when you came charging out of that bathroom, when you thought he'd been hurt." Jack gave Steve a pointed look.

"I love him Jack, more than he seems to think, he-" Steve broke off abruptly, his mind drifting back to when Jack had first arrived, "Oh no, I'm so stupid." He strode off down the beach and Jack had to run to catch up with him.

"What've you done?"

"Jesse finds it difficult meeting strangers, and I- I just invited you in, and then totally ignored him. I've got to make sure he's okay." Steve only hoped that he hadn't pushed Jesse over the edge.


	26. Chapter 26

**Okay, I'm happy (and sad) to announce that this is the final chapter. I really hope you all like it.**

**Sometime in the near future I am going to go back and rework the whole story, but for now this is it.**

**Thank you so much to everybody who has read and reviewed this story, it's really helped a lot. So for the last time, enjoy.**

Mark watched worriedly as Jesse slept, the young intern had a frown on his face, and he was restless, he kept turning over every few minutes, caught up in memories of the past. It had taken him over an hour to get Jesse calmed down, and Mark only hoped that he never came face to face with Jesse's mother, because he knew that he wouldn't be able to be civil to her.

It seemed that Jesse's mother had found out about Bryan's death, and had called her son to let him know that she held him personally responsible for it. She had also informed him that she didn't believe his claims of abuse against Bryan, and that she never wanted to hear from him again. Mark sighed, he had also found out that it hadn't just been his mother's phone call that had upset Jesse, it had also been Steve.

The sound of the back door slamming shut startled Mark out of his thoughts and he hurried out of Steve's bedroom, where he had taken Jesse. He bumped into a very angry looking Steve, Jack was leaning in the doorway of Steve's basement apartment. Mark took a second to nod at his old friend before turning back to his son.

"Steve, I know you've been stupid, I know you've upset Jesse, I know you want to make things right with him. But there's something _you _need to know."

Jesse sat up in the bed, trying to listen to the conversation that was going on outside of the door. Steve had upset him before, but Jesse didn't want him to get in trouble with Mark, he knew that Steve hadn't hurt him on purpose. The voices stopped, making Jesse sit up even more, and then the door opened.

Steve looked so sheepish that Jesse almost laughed. The detective made his way over to Jesse and kissed him passionately on the lips, leaving the intern breathless. After a few seconds Jesse opened him mouth to speak, but Steve placed a finger on his lips.

"Jesse, just hear me out. First of all, I'm sorry for being so thoughtless before when Jack arrived, I hope you can forgive me," Jesse nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but Steve ploughed on, "Secondly, don't take any notice of your mom, she's talking nonsense."



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"Okay. Can I speak now?" Steve smiled slightly, and ran his fingers through Jesse's hair before nodding. "Good, you're forgiven; you were just excited to see Jack, I understand that. As for the thing with my mom, I really need a hug."

Steve smiled and climbed into the bed next to Jesse, pulling the younger man towards him. Jesse sighed contentedly and rested his head on Steve's chest, the sound of Steve's heartbeat comforting him, the secure feeling of being wrapped up in Steve's arms enveloping him.

"Steve, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course you can Jess." Steve kissed Jesse's forehead and waited for him to speak.

"Do you think I'll ever get over what Bryan did to me?" Jesse looked up at Steve with questioning eyes. Steve took a deep breath, trying to find the right words to answer him.

"I think that there'll always be a part of you that's affected by him and what he did, and I think that that's part of what makes you, you. But I know that you'll move on, and that together we'll cope with any problems, so yeah, you'll get over it." Jesse fell silent for a moment, and then looked up at Steve.

"Hmmm, you want to know something?"

"Yeah." Jesse grinned and leaned up to give Steve a gentle kiss on the lips.

"I love you Detective Sloan."

"That's good, cause I love you too Doctor Travis." Steve moved towards Jesse to initiate another kiss, but Jesse held up his hand.

"I'm not a doctor yet."



"You will be, trust me, my dad's a doctor." Jesse nodded, and then melted into a kiss, happy with the knowledge that Steve would always be there for him, and that his life was finally beginning.

**The End**


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